Well, it sure was a nice holiday. It appears that a lot of people had CRAB. The new

turkey?

Finally had time to make another soup. And this time it was mushroom barley.

Trying to dial in to more and different grains. Fran made us a scotch broth soup

earlier this year, and it was just delicious. So time to try something with barley.

And the mushrooms at the farmers' market have just been wonderful.

I am still grabbing recipes from the Joy of Cooking: All About Soups & Stews.

I should say we, because David is usually cooking with me.

So here is the recipe, but read the whole post, because there are important notes

that I have to add.

Mushroom Barley Soup

About 4 cups

Combine and let stand until the mushrooms are softened, about 20 minutes:

1/4 oz. dried mushrooms, such as porcini or shiitake (about 3)

1 cup hot water

Remove the mushrooms and squeeze dry with paper towels. Reserve the soaking

liquid. Dice the mushrooms finely and reserve. Heat in a soup pot over medium-

low heat until the butter is melted:

1 T. unsalted butter

1 T. vegetable oil

Add and cook, stirring, until tender but not brown, 5 to 10 minutes:

5 oz. mushrooms, wiped clean and tough stems removed, coarsely chopped

1 small leek (white part only) cleaned thoroughly and diced

1 small onion

1 medium celery stalk, diced

1 small carrot, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Increase the heat slightly and add:

1/3 cup pearl barley

Cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved

diced mushrooms. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine mesh sieve lined

with a dampened paper towel and stir into the vegetable mixture along with:

4 cups beef stock or vegetable stock

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, until the barley

is tender, about 40 minutes.

Season with

1 T. snipped fresh dill

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. ground black pepper

Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately.

That is the recipe straight from the book. But because I don't always check

the recipe before I go to the store, we had to make some changes. We used

chicken stock from the box. And we had whole barley, not pearl. So I looked

up in Nourishing Traditions, the Sally Fallon tome, about how to use regular

barley. On page 209, in the side bar, she writes

Barley is one of the oldest cereal grains, used most frequently in the making of beer

but also traditionally made into bread and gruels. It was the main food of the

Greeks, who valued barley's ability to give physical strength and mental alertness.

Barley water, a thin porridge made of barley, is said to be easy to digest and a

tonic to the liver. In Britain it is fed to convalescents. Most barley is available to

the consumer in "pearled" form, with the thick outer layer, and hence most of the

nutrients, removed. Look for whole barley and be sure to soak it before using it or the

results will be difficult to digest.

(The Apple spellchecker does not recognize the word gruel. Hasn't Steve Jobs ever

had gruel???)

So we did soak the barley for about 45 minutes, because I didn't read the recipe close

enough. And we used whey. But if you don't hang out with kefir heads like I do, plain

water, or with a little bit of lemon juice will be fine. Longer is better, Sally would probably

say about 7 or 8 hours.

And as for the part about straining the liquid from the mushrooms, by all means do

this part. I was sitting with Theo and David while we were eating, and I pretended not

to notice the fine sand like grit I was chewing. And Sherlock Holmes tv was on, so they

couldn't hear it, but maybe they were just being polite. Or did I fall down on washing

the leek well enough? Just want to offer my mistakes, and urging you not to take a

short cut like me. Although since I know all of my readers, I am pretty certain you are

more exacting in your cooking. Or skillful, etc.

So, mostly a success, and a wonderful thing to have for supper when the sun is down,

and you have your heavy socks on.

Love you all, ban all the bombs.

In the end, I would call it a success.

Hi, everyone! Ruby, my webmaster, gently informed me it was time to start again.

It has been a long time, and I lost steam so quickly last time. So this time the idea

will be a bit different. I will post when I make soup. Not every week, but when we

make soup. I lost a long post about something very detailed and wonderful and was

immediately discouraged. Such a lightweight at this stuff! But it is fun, so I will do

my best.

The latest soup:

Ice Cream Soup!

David put some vanilla ice cream in bowls, with chocolate sauce. Then I stirred it up!

Voila! I would suggest putting in some nutritional yeast or some malt, but since we

were glued to the Giants' game, none of that happened.

Fall is coming and there are a lot of things it the garden that would be great for soup.

I am looking forward to it.

Stay hungry, think peace. So easy to say, so hard to do.

Hi, everyone!

So summer is almost here, and the vegetables are growing so well after the sun we have been

having. More fodder for soup! So to tell about week two, we move on to mushroom soup.

One of Ruby's mothers, otherwise known as Caroline, took me to the Noe Valley farmer's market.

And there were these beautiful mushrooms... I bought about two pounds, some of which were for her. And then forgot to give to her. She called me later and wanted them back, but she lives in

SF, and I was in David's kitchen so I got to keep them. As it was, there was only 3/4 ths of what

I needed, so had to do math. What is three fourths of 2.5 pounds of mushrooms? I had enough

time to put them outside in the sun. Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti reports that putting them in the sun for a few hours boosts the vitamins A and D considerably. Something to remember.

So I made it, so simple. And the seventeen dollar bottle of Madeira provided, in just two tablespoons, the right touch. Plus the freshly grated nutmeg. Very good. From the same book as the fruit soup, the Joy of Cooking soup book. We had it for supper.

You aren't surprised that we have soup for supper on Saturday nights, are you? But since we got our grass fed beef from Morris, tonight we are having steak! Yahoo!

Ban the big bomb.

So without my webmaster, Ruby, it took some time to get back here. Actually, her mother

sent me the link to my own blog. But now I am there. Hello to all my followers and friends,

which now is Ruby and me.

I am going to play some catch up really quick. This is now actually week three. So I will tell

briefly what week One was. We made fruit soup out of the new book. Why fruit soup? Because

we are going to our family reunion in Nebraska, a Larson family reunion. I looked at other

recipes, like from the old days, but this one was the best. So I made it and it was good.

My neighbors said they were going to put it over ice cream. Yum. I would recommend this,

especially for summer, and for your constitution. Like revenge, best eaten cold.

Peace out, ban the bomb!

introduction

I went to Davis on the train, and while I was there I bought a book. At the Avid Reader book store I bought the Joy of Cooking soup book. For my boyfriend. But I never really gave it to him, I kept it because I have been using it myself. We like soup. We like soup a lot. So I decided to make 50 soups in 52 weeks! Not difficult. Just fun. So two weeks ago today I started. It was
only today when my niece and good friend Ruby convinced me to blog about. She is my webmaster, and
she is awesome. She is ten.